Thank you Lauren for being concerned about me. Surprsingly I'm doing well. I was half way down the stairs and my foot slipped and I landed on my back and elbows. Thankfully it was right above my tailbone and more on my forearms than the elbows. But I hit really hard and slid partway down the stairs. I thought I was going to throw up from the pain at first, but once I was able to get up and lie down I finally felt better. I have to admit, it scared the mess out of me and I cried a little.

I'm learning to sew today. I'm very nervous and intimidated. We were going to try yesterday, but I slipped going down the wooden stairs carrying Christopher's marble game/tower. Note to self: never wear socks at the lake again. I've gotten everything threaded and am ready to go with my practice scraps. Wish me luck! Here's to hoping I don't quit too soon.

I posted a long time ago about how on some blogs you have to type in those letters that spell nothing in order to have your comment posted. The reason I posted about it was b/c I swear to you the word was "sperm", but somehow I misspelled it. I still don't know if I just read it wrong (you know how sometimes they try to trick you by putting the letters close together) OR if I was laughing so hard I couldn't see what I was typing. Anyhoo, I just posted another comment on a blog I like to read and here's the letters I had to type... "innimas." Please try to say that out loud. Why do I get these words? I know it's not spelled correctly, but still. At least it gives me something to laugh at. Not that I need anything, I do have children after all!

Somehow Picasa is not on the computer anymore and so I'm unable to create a new title for our blog, but that's ok. I'm not up for the challenge of figuring out how to fix it either. (Lori, somehow the title box frame is showing up again too. No clue how to fix it.) But this is one of my favorite photos of our family. I'm not in it b/c I actually took this one! And I have to give credit where it is due. The iPhoto edit and enhance buttons made it look much better, but I still think it's pretty good for someone who has absolutely no clue how to take a decent photo. Ok, enough tooting my own horn.

I wanted to put it on here to remind myself of what a good day for us looks like. This is one of our family's favorite places to go. It's a tiny little beach within walking distance of our house. I know I joke/complain about the house we live in, but I really am thankful for it. It's far from new and not allowed to be updated by us, but it serves it purpose perfectly. Besides, we get to walk to places like this! We go down here even more now that we have Brick b/c we can't take him to the beach with us. I think he might love it even more than we do! He always runs as fast as he can ahead of us and waits, bursting I might add, for us to catch up so we can start throwing tennis balls into the water for him.

I could tell so many stories about times we've spent down here, but well, they'd bore you. You just have to experience it for yourself. It's narrow, but go on forever. It has a fabulous view. And a majority of the time, it's our own private beach. And this photo is just perfect to me b/c it shows just how much my family loves each other when we are here. Thank you God for giving this to me. I love it!

First, I traded my first book today! I posted them two days ago and already had an interest. I just printed out the two pages and wrapped it up to go. If your books weigh less than 13 ounces (which most paperbacks do) you can mail it from your house! How awesome is that? I don't have a typical mailbox, just a slot for outgoing mail, so I'll have to swing by a blue mailbox. But as long as I don't have to enter a post office with my two kids I'm good.

Second, my kids have said some funny/not so funny things the last two days. Depending on your sense of humor. We borrowed Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs from our neighbor and the main character's name is Flint Lockwood. Sophie tries to repeat things that she hears and tried to repeat his name one day. Didn't come out right. Comes out more like, "Sh*t wood." Not sure how she came up with that one, but she still gets some of her letters mixed up.

Then last night I was putting Christopher to bed and we had all been naming words that rhyme. Don't ask me why, but I said, "What word rhymes with corn?" He thought for about 3 seconds then said, "Porn!" I did my best not to laugh, told him that wasn't a word and he couldn't make up words to rhyme. They have to be real ones. We have absolutely no clue where the kids got these words from b/c I can honestly say that they are not said in this house. But we still laughed about it when we went to bed last night!

I mentioned on here before about how I've started on Karen Kingsbury books after Christmas and well, I just can't seem to put them down. A friend's daughter passed along about 20 of her books and I've been going through them very quickly. I'm on my 14th book now. They are that good! Thankfully Karen produces what seems like several books a year and since I just found her I have a whole lot of reading ahead of me. Yeah!

Now, here's why I even started this post. If you are like my husband and I you have tons of books out on shelves or stored away. I looked into selling them on Amazon.com, but got so confused on how to do it that I quit and figured I'd just keep the huge stacks of books and have someone else deal with them when I die. Until today. I was reading through my Parents magazine this morning and there was an article on saving money. One of the things that caught my attention was the mention of two websites that allow you to swap books with other readers instead of buying new ones. I looked into both of them and only one of them had lots of Karen's books. The other site had 1 little book. The site I liked is called PaperBackSwap.com and I think I'm really going to love it. I signed up, it's free, and added 10 of my own books I've had stacked up in my nightstand to my list and I'm ready to go!

Here's how it works, you create a list of books that you are willing to get rid of and they send you an email when someone is interested. You just print out two pieces of paper and wrap your book in them. They have all the info on it and you don't have to do anything. If the book is small enough you don't even have to take it to the post office! You pay to have it shipped to them, but that doesn't matter b/c when you pick a book for yourself you don't have to pay anything! You get "points" for each book you "sell" and use them to "buy" books for yourself. Great, huh? The books you get are yours to keep for as long or little as you like. Resell it or keep it forever.

I'm very excited about this new little treasure I've found. Oh, and did I mention that they also have sites for trading cd's and dvd's? Yup! How awesome is that?

Here's a funny video of Christopher trying to blow out candles on his second b'day cake. It was too big to post on here so I had to put it on YouTube.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xdtn-a4EgY

Here's a summary of what we did last week:

Wednesday - We left to go to visit Brandon's sister and her family in GA. Kids went crazy playing together and then we all crashed at bedtime.

Thursday - Woke up and got ready to go to the GA Aquarium. Christopher randomly got sick out both ends, so I stayed home with him while everyone else went to Target. He never got sick again, so we went to the aquarium in the afternoon.

Friday - We played in the morning and then hit the road to Montgomery. Stopped in Auburn to visit with our old neighbors from Huntsville. Had dinner and cake with Mimi and Papa John and then crashed again.

Saturday - Went to Home Depot with Mimi and Papa John. Came back and had lunch. Hit the road to go back home.

Sunday - Walked down to the bay to play in the afternoon.

(One of many pedicures.)

(Thanks Aunt Ame!)

(Notice Sophie sitting at the counter with all the food?)

I just checked the weather for the week and it's going to be.......... 60's and sunny!!!!! With a slight chance of rain one day, but who cares? It'll just pack the pollen down and we'll keep going. I'm totally psyched about this! Yesterday we got a new trampoline to replace the one we bought when we moved here. Last year it decided to do somersaults in our backyard, but took out the grill and landed on the fence. It broke a pole and ripped the net pretty good. We can't use it without the net and we just haven't been able to find a replacement. Brandon and I went by Sam's (where we bought it) and they had a new one. We asked about swapping it and they said no problem if we could bring the old one back in. So, that's what we (ok, mostly he) did yesterday. Best part is, we only had to pay $5 for the new one! And renew our membership to Sam's, which we could definitely use now that the kids are getting bigger! Oh, and did I tell you we got a new fridge? Our other one kept freezing over so they replaced it. It's probably the biggest one we've ever had (that should tell you what we've been living with over the last several years) and it looks like we don't have any food. So, now we can buy more stuff and it will mean I take less trips to the store. Yeah for me! I'm going to get dressed and make sure the trash made it to the street b/c I think I hear a garbage truck coming. Later!!!!!

We had a great trip this week and I think one of the best things we did was come home on Saturday instead of waiting until Sunday like we usually do. I think we will do that more often if we can. It felt like we had "Second Saturday" as the Ramages call it. Speaking of, we loved that not 15 minutes after being home Tiffany came running over to see if we wanted to join them for dinner. How awesome is that? Don't you hate getting home and then trying to figure out what to fix?!? That's why she came. It was fun to spend more time with them. We are trying to soak up as much as we can b/c they are moving (sniff, sniff) this summer with several of our other friends.

I'm going to run b/c this time change thing has me all thrown off! We had a fabulous Sunday around the house. We had plans to go to S.S. (slept too long to make it to church), but we got busy in the back yard and lost total track of time. But sometimes I think it's ok b/c you just need to be out enjoying everything God created around you with the people He created for you to be with. I feel Him in moments like that more than a sermon sometimes. (Please don't comment if you disagree. We probably disagree on more things if you start that up!) We took tons of photos and hopefully I'll get around to downloading them this week. I'm painting Miss Sophie's bedroom tomorrow while they are at "school". Shouldn't take too long. I hope. It's tiny!

Today is Christopher's 4th birthday. I can't believe that he is four years old!!!! Geez!!!! We are going to see Brandon's sister today and then tomorrow all the cousins are going to the Georgia Aquarium. We are all very excited! I wish I could write more, but we still have to get ready to go. I'll do it later!

We woke up this morning to the wood chipper outside our house. The kids have been camped out on the back of the couch watching the "worker mans" (as Christopher calls them)every move and giving me constant updates. They knocked on our door to ask if it was ok that they cut down a few of our trees. I didn't care b/c one is a huge bush that I can't trim the top of and is a pain to cut the "grass" underneath it, so I told them to have at it. They also asked if we could move Brandon's car b/c they wanted to chop down the tree that hung over it. I told him the battery was dead and that was why it was sitting there. I figured out how to get it into neutral and they pushed me way up the hill. Only problem was, the steering wheel locked on me so I could only go straight. There was a skinny little tree that we had to pass and I was so scared it would scratch along the car, but it didn't. I told the guys that when I got out and they thought that I was just trying to see how close I could get to that tree without hitting it. I smiled on the inside b/c they thought I was daring! I'm not the least bit daring! Well, Sophie is trying to climb up in my lap now, as she always does when I sit at this computer and once she succeeds, I can no longer type, so I'm going to go!

I never thought I would write anything on my blog about this, but I just needed to share something with all of you. I tell everyone all the time that I'm an open book and will talk about anything and everything with anyone and everyone. I try to be really careful on here b/c I don't want to be a "Debbie Downer," but I really wanted you guys to read this article someone wrote.

18 years ago my family lost my older brother in a tragic accident. I find it a little ironic b/c I now live in the area where the accident happened and swore I never would live at the beach! God has bigger and better plans than we do though. I have made amazing friends here, found an amazing church and have found beauty in a place I never thought I would again. My sister just emailed me an article that the Montgomery Advertiser wrote about the affect my brother's death is still having on the community. It's amazing! Please read it. I never thought that God would use my brother's death to do so much. I'm proud! I miss him all the time and wonder what it would be like to have him here. I really don't understand it, but I truly felt like God was preparing me for that part of my life b/c for some reason I could never picture my brother grown up and with a family or where he'd go to college. I can't explain it other than maybe it was b/c he was known as being a class clown and never talked about girls. He kept everything to himself. He was very humble.

My brother Jason was an amazingly gifted athlete, artist, musician, comic, dancer (my family never saw his moves, but they were famous among his friends!) and friend to everyone he met. He was quiet, spoke volumes in his actions. Some of the stories I never heard until after he died. He would do things for people when they weren't able without thinking twice about it. It brings tears to my eyes when I look at my own son's hands. They have the same finger nails. Funny thought, I know! I can't wait to see him in Heaven one day. I know he's the one running circles around everyone up there wondering when the next race is. He's got everyone doubled over laughing with his crazy sense of humor. I miss him and can't wait to hear about all that he's been up to when I see him again.

Somehow it has snuck up on us. It came out in the night and sprinkled it's evil dust everywhere. It hid it so you wouldn't see it right away, but you would quickly feel it's choking and itching and swelling powers. My friends, it's back. Pollen. I loathe pollen. I love what it does for the world, but I loathe what it does to me. A couple weeks ago I thought that the kids' colds were finally getting to me. I started taking my Zyrtec b/c I thought I saw something yellow along the road one day. Turns out what I thought was a cold was pure evil.... allergies.

My throat feels like it has a softball in it. Every time I swallow I feel like it's pouring acid in an open wound. Ok, maybe that's a little dramatic, but it's extremely painful to swallow and I really do feel like I have a softball in my throat. But what I want to know is how in the world did pollen become part of our problem with this cold weather we've been having? Maybe my theory was right all along. That it sleeps all winter, wakes up too early and then spends the rest of it's days just waiting for the temperature to randomly hit 60 degrees one afternoon and BANG! it makes it's attack. Doesn't matter that the temps will drop back into the 30s and 40s the next day. They have been given a go sign and there is no looking back.

I used to love spring and everything about it. Now I have a very strong love/hate relationship with it. Here's to surviving the wrath of spring's beauty! (And thank God for allergy medicine!)